Mediagazer: North Korea/Sony Story Shows How Eagerly U.S. Media Still Regurgitate Government Claims (Glenn Greenwald/The Intercept)

8:25 PM ET, January 1, 2015

Top News:

Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:

North Korea/Sony Story Shows How Eagerly U.S. Media Still Regurgitate Government Claims — The identity of the Sony hackers is still unknown. President Obama, in a December 19 press conference, announced: “We can confirm that North Korea engaged in this attack.”

Discussion: New York Post, @josephmenn, @billmon1, @ggreenwald, @jayrosen_nyu, @wardhayeswilson, @tomricks1, @rungomez, @jayrosen_nyu, @garethporter, Bloomberg, Gawker, VatorNews and New York Times

Jana Winter / The Intercept:

FBI bulletin says hackers who attacked Sony have threatened an unnamed news organization — Sony Hackers Threaten U.S. News Media Organization — The cyberterrorists who hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer servers have threatened to attack an American news media organization …

New York Times:

Interviews with Sony employees show that the company was slow to realize the gravity and impact of hacking — Sony Cyberattack, First a Nuisance, Swiftly Grew Into a Firestorm — LOS ANGELES — It was three days before Thanksgiving, the beginning of a quiet week for Sony Pictures.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Verge, BGR, Mashable, Gawker, Digital Spy and Engadget

Tal Kopan / Politico:

FBI says report that Sony hack was perpetrated by a disgruntled Sony employee and piracy group hackers is “inaccurate”, based on “narrow view” — U.S.: No alternate leads in Sony hack — A briefing for FBI agents investigating the Sony Pictures hack by a security firm …

Discussion: Engadget, Re/code, Techdirt, Hit & Run, New York Times, Mashable, The PJ Tatler, PandoDaily, The Daily Beast and NK News

Patrick Kingsley / Guardian:

Peter Greste and Mohamed Fahmy apply for deportation from Egypt to Australia and Canada — Two of Al-Jazeera Three apply for deportation from Egypt — Peter Greste and Mohamed Fahmy formally ask chief prosecutor to send them to Australia and Canada after case sent for retrial

Discussion: The Desk

Patrick Kingsley / Guardian:

Egypt court orders retrial for Peter Greste and his Al Jazeera colleagues, denies bail — Egypt court orders retrial for Peter Greste and Al-Jazeera colleagues — Al-Jazeera Three, Greste Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, are to be retried and bail has been denied

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

17 Hopes and Dreams for The Times in the New Year — 1. Presidential campaign coverage that does not seem based on the idea that the presidency is dynastic, and must be handed down to a Clinton or a Bush. — 2. More skepticism from the get-go. For example, when government officials say …

Discussion: @vikasbajaj, @raju, @caraswill, @edmundlee, @michalskilaura, @rebeccagberg, @kvox, @sulliview and @jayrosen_nyu

Anna Clark / Columbia Journalism Review:

Q&A with Philly.com's new director of digital audience development, Diana Lind, who came from local nonprofit magazine Next City — Diana Lind discusses what she's learned at Next City and what she hopes to bring to Philly.com — DETROIT, MI — How do you engage readers with local reporting?

Brandon Weigel / Baltimore City Paper:

Fox 45 fires crew behind the bogus ‘kill a cop’ story — A screen grab from the Fox 45 story. — The reporter and the photographer responsible for misquoting Tyrone West's sister, Tawanda Jones, at a protest rally in Washington, D.C., reporting she and others chanted “kill a cop,” …

Discussion: Baltimore Sun, @city_paper, Raw Story, Mediaite and TVSpy

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Bloomberg Business readies for Davos with Jan. 20 debut — January 20 is shaping up to be a big day for Bloomberg L.P. — That's the date that's been chosen to unveil the company's much-anticipated flagship media portal, Bloomberg Business, according to sources with knowledge of the plans …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @joepompeo and @joepompeo

Nicole Levy / Capital New York:

Skift travel site to launch print magazine Jan 13 that focuses on annual travel trend forecast — Travel industry site Skift tries print — Skift, the travel-industry site, is the latest digital media operation to launch a print magazine, which comes out Jan. 13.

Discussion: @rafat and @raju

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Sony Expands ‘The Interview’ to Pay-TV Providers, PlayStation Network, Vudu and 580-Plus Theaters — Sony Pictures Entertainment has reached agreements with top U.S. cable, satellite and telco TV providers to distribute “The Interview” via video-on-demand and pay-per-view services …

Discussion: Reuters, @pkafka, New York Times, CNBC, VentureBeat, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Business Insider and Engadget

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

After two months in Kindle Unlimited program, profits for one Amazon author dropped 75% — Amazon Offers All-You-Can-Eat Books. Authors Turn Up Noses. — Authors are upset with Amazon. Again. — For much of the last year, mainstream novelists were furious that Amazon was discouraging …

Discussion: Smashwords, Gigaom, Seattle Weekly, copyfight.corante.com, retailwire.com and GalleyCat